1. Field of the Invention
The object of the present invention is a portioning device for paste or semi-liquid products, contained in a flexible metal or plastics material tube, of the toothpaste tube type, which is squeezed to extract the contents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices are known of the type described in French patent No. 2 240 161. These devices comprise a portioning stopper mounted on a double-walled receptacle consisting of a flexible receptacle housed inside a rigid outer receptacle. There exist other portioning systems mounted on tubes, the bottoms of which consist of a piston which rises as the tube empties. However there is no portioning device which can be mounted simply and directly on a hand held flexible tube, the contents of which are extracted by pressure.
Various portioning stopper systems or systems with pumps fitted to receptacles are also known (French patent No. 819 094). Although this patent describes an application for cream, if the product to be discharged is a little thick, operation is defective and portioning inexact. Systems are also known in which a pump is fitted to a bottle (French patent Nos. 2 343 137 and 2 305 241). It is also known to make stoppers including a built-in portioning device for bottles intended to cotnain a liquid. French patent application No. 2 562 444 describes such a device, wherein the volume of liquid to be portioned can be controlled at will simply by moving one side of a measuring vessel disposed in the rotating part of a faucet pipe. Movement of said side is effected by screwing (or unscrewing) a worm, against a graduated rule. When the volume of the vessel is regulated and the rotating part of the faucet pipe appropriately positioned, the bottle and the stopper are simply tilted downwards to fill the measuring vessel and the rotating part is then turned a quarter of a turn to empty said vessel.
Although these systems are suitable for portioning liquids, they cannot be used to portion a paste or even a semi-liquid product. The transfer of the liquid from the bottle into the measuring vessel and from the measuring vessel into the receptacle in which the portioned volume is collected is effected by gravity. Now, through its very nature, a paste or semi-liquid product does not flow or flows poorly. In addition, whereas with a liquid there is no risk of forming deposits likely to dry out and partly or totally clog a discharge conduit or orifice, the same does not apply with a paste product.
Consequently, if it is wished to equip a receptacle intended to contain a past or semi-liquid product with a portioning stopper, it is necessary to address the problems posed by transferring said product from the inside to the outside of the receptacle, and by the formation of deposits of the product in the transfer channels of said portioning stopper.
An object of the present invention is precisely a reliable combination providing a solution to the specific difficulties linked to the portioning of paste or semi-liquid products.